Cruising
at 600 ft the engine chip light came on, then te engine-out light, then
the engine emitted a loud bang. The helicopter touched down hard, rolled
over and burned out. There had been an uncontained engine fialure. The
four people on board are fatalities. (details)

At about 0630 Eastern Standard Time on 21 June 2004, a MD Helicopters MD520N helicopter, registered VH-MPI, took off from Gladstone, Queensland, to transport a marine pilot to the deck of a bulk carrier ship that was preparing to enter Gladstone harbour. During the landing on the ship, the right landing gear struts fractured. The helicopter collapsed onto its right side and the main rotor blades struck the ship’s deck. The helicopter was substantially damaged and the pilot and passenger exited the helicopter uninjured.

Pilot was practicing autoratation and felt a chenge in the pedals after tochdown, he attempted to hover by raising the collective, and the helicopter began to spin, he lowered the collective, and shutdown. No damage to the helicopter was noted. The rotating cone control cable was found to have a clean break. The other cables were inspected and found OK. PAN 500N72205 cable was inspected at the last 300 hr inspection and was found to be airworthy. This part is not a life limited part so no record of hours in service is available. Recommend a service life for the cable: 1000 hours.

Witnesses
report the aircraft in a rapid descent spinning left. In the three previous
days the pilot had reported "mushy" pedal response, and the
aircraft's antitorque system was checked. On the day of the accident
the pilot accepted the aircraft as cleared to fly with the stability
augmentation system inoperative, and carried out several left and right
pedal turns in the hover before departing. Two persons onboard are killed.
(Details)

After a sharp turn the feulsupply stocked.
True this the engine lost power. The pilot tried an autorotation landing
but there was no save place to land. During the crashlanding, near Suhl,
Thuringen in Germany, the helicopter tumbled over.

According to information from the Austrian Air Accident Investigation branch, the accident occurred when the helicopter was departing from the heliport. During the lift off, the pilot experienced a loss of control, with uncontrolled rotation, and then a hard landing. Pilot and 2 passengers are uninjured.

Fortitude Air LLC, Klamath Falls, Oregon; experimental - to show compiance with FAR

LN-064

MD-520N

bj. 1994

250594

ff

N911TC

McDonell
Douglas Helicopter Service, Meza, Arizona

250594

N911TC

Airworthiness test

N183SD

Orange County Sheriff Department, Santa
Ana, Ca

260399

N183SD

McDonell
Douglas Helicopter Service, Meza, Arizona

290999

reg'd

N501HP

Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu, Hawaii

121107

dam

N501HP

This incident occurred on the island of Oahu. The helicopter responded to assist patrol units locating a fleeing suspect while orbitting at an altitude between 300-400 feet above ground. The main rotor struck a rope that hung an advertisement ballon. A precautionary landing was made. No injuries to 3 people.

The certified flight instructor stated in the NTSB Pilot Accident Report that he and the pilot he was instructing were practicing emergency procedures, in particular, power recovery autorotations. He said that at 700 feet above ground level (agl) he rolled the throttle off (idle) and entered the autorotation. At 50 feet agl he rolled the throttle on late, realized the ground was rapidly approaching, and decided to perform a running landing. The pilot reported that he inadvertently applied partial throttle, which did not allow the engine to regain full power. With the throttle positioned at 25 percent, the rotor rpm decayed, and when the helicopter contacted the ground, a rotor blade struck the tail boom. He shut down the helicopter and confirmed the damage to the tail boom. The pilot stated that the helicopter and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.

Helicopter crashed resulting in one pilot sustaining fractured vertebra and causing substantial damage to the aircraft. Pilots statements indicate taht dual flight instruction was being given, that the student had completed a steep approach, and while hovering, the aircraft made an uncommanded drop to the ground from approximately 10 feet. No malfunction of the helicopter systems were reported by the pilots nor were any found during the investigation.